All Of The Drama Behind The Scenes Of HGTV's Rock The Block, Explained
Since it debuted in 2019, the star-studded cast of "Rock the Block" has shared some truths about competing on the show. While Allison Victoria has talked about the grueling time frames and Mina Starsiak Hawk shared the twist that most surprised her, nothing has been quite as explosive as comments made by power couple Keith Bynum and Evan Thomas about their experience on Season 5 of the series. Bynum and Thomas, who normally star on "Bargain Block," make up one of the four sets of returning "Rock the Block" competitors to battle it out through Season 5, which began airing in March 2024.
Things began to heat up after the premiere of episode 6 on April 8, 2024, with both HGTV stars taking to Instagram to share their disappointment at not winning the episode's challenge. Bynum, in his April 9 post, acknowledged that many online fans seemingly thought they deserved to win, but Thomas took things further by questioning the legitimacy of the judging. While most episodes see surprise guest judges evaluating the finished spaces, Episode 6 changed things up by having each team rate one another's work.
"Was there some low balling going on?" Thomas wrote in his now-deleted post from April 11. "Keith and I decided to judge very fairly because it's the right thing to do, plus we didn't trust production at all (the lead producers are professional liars and manipulators but that's a story for another day lol). But did the other teams reciprocate that, and if so, which ones? We'll never know!" (via Heavy).
Thomas and Bynum shaded their fellow competitors
Based on Evan Thomas' now-deleted Instagram post, it seems that the builder and his partner Keith Bynum may believe that their competitors weren't playing it fair during the peer judging in Season 5 Episode 6 of "Rock the Block." The renovation duo created a meditation room in their extra bedroom, installing a custom built-in and painting a Buddha portrait all in 48 hours. Like the other teams, they also refurbished a bathroom during this time.
The show didn't provide details on how each team would be rated, so it's unknown if measures were taken to prevent competitors from purposefully sabotaging the scores. However, Bynum did mention in his own post that one team gave him and Thomas a perfect score, which leaves room for potential lowballing for the other two teams. We know that Bryan and Sarah Baeumler of "Renovation Island" were crowned the challenge winners, having created a children's craft room featuring a crib and twin bed.
It doesn't appear that any other teams responded to these now-deleted accusations, with Sarah Beaumler even penning kind messages to her fellow contestants on Instagram. "We have all faced heartache with some tough losses," she wrote on April 15, the day of the season's finale. "But I know each of us is here because we love the process, we love the growth, we love this feeling of accomplishment. It was an honour to stand beside you on that dock each day."
The duo also took shots at the show's producers
While it's possible that Evan Thomas and Keith Bynum were sabotaged by their competitors during "Rock the Block," it also wouldn't be surprising if their loss was attributed to other behind-the-scenes forces. In his Instagram post, Thomas took shots at the show's producers, calling them "professional liars and manipulators." While he didn't expand on what he meant by this, many fans have speculated that the competition is staged.
"Like are we sure the show isn't rigged!" one fan commented under Bynum's April 9 post. This thought was also echoed on Reddit. "The least surprising but most eye-rolling thing would be to find that HGTV producers are gaming the competition to skew results to benefit their favorite couples," one user wrote. Either way, an Instagram post from April 16 suggests that Thomas and Bynum won't be spilling the details of the behind-the-scenes drama anytime soon.
"I woke up today knowing two things were true in my heart," Bynum wrote under a couple's selfie. "First, I love @emuralit more than anything and no one can take that from me. The second is, things done in the dark eventually come to light. #ndasareforever." While Season 5 of "Rock the Block" is officially over, this cryptic caption will keep fans speculating for quite a while.